5 THINGS: All you should know heading into Wednesday's Open Cup clash vs. Pittsburgh

What are the plans? A Fire/Riverhounds history and Pause's potential record

June 18, 2014

Jeff Crandall

Chicago-Fire.com

The Chicago Fire step back into the historic Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Wednesday night with a fourth round match up against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds (LIVE 7:30pm CT on Chicago-Fire.com).

Here are five things you should know going into the match.

Open Cup upsets runneth over

The fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup comes to an end tonight with five matches set to take place across the country. Entering at this stage, MLS teams have been a mixed bag with four upsets occurring in this round:

The dispatching of RSL and D.C. United at the first hurdle means that both of last year’s finalists are already gone. In games relating to the Fire, a nine-man Columbus Crew side advanced past Indy Eleven 2-1 Tuesday night thanks to a 115th minute penalty kick from Jairo Arietta.

Fire’s U.S. Open Cup record/home record

Just in case you forgot, the Chicago Fire have won the Open Cup four times (1998, 2000, 2003, 2006), advanced to two more finals (2004, 2011) and gone to the semifinals on nine occasions – all are MLS records in the competition.

The team is an overall 33-11-4 all-time in the tournament and 21-1-1 in matches played in the state of Illinois.

They’ll be looking to make a strong step back into the competition Wednesday night after suffering their only home regulation defeat, a 2-0 decision in last year’s semifinal to eventual champions D.C. United.

Last time these teams met

Believe it or not, this is not the first time the Fire and Riverhounds have met, though it has been a while. The two sides played each other in the 2001 U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals, which the Fire won 3-2 in extra time thanks to a now legendary goal from Amos “Chesty” Magee.

BONUS: Pause could set record tonight

Yallop told reporters this week that along with Mike Magee and Alex returning to full training, that 12-year Fire veteran Logan Pause is also back and available for selection Wednesday night. Should he appear vs. Pittsburgh, Pause will move past current assistant coach C.J. Brown for most U.S. Open Cup appearances.